One Last Time
by Night Of The Land
Summary: Story is rated PG for charachter death reflecting on the life of Avon Vea a jedi Padawan was witten at 2 in the morring so just bear withme please and thanks


A/N okay sorry I have been updating like normal but I have been studying my but off for test then I could not get this idea out of my head so I guess I had to write it down. It is a far cry from my normal works but I was in the mood to write something sad so here it is.

Disclaimer: I only own the name you do NOT recognize all the rest belongs to George Lucas (lucky man)

One Last Time

In one of the towers of the massive Temple there was a room. In that room were all the names of Jedi who had pasted into the Force. Either by old age or death on a mission their name was there on the smooth, cold, marble walls. In the center of the room a small table, with a vase upon it, was kept.

The lone occupant stood next to the far left hand wall. Pale fingers traced a name.

Andréa Cornica.

"You promised that you would see me through to my knighting, Master. So why are you not here?" the girl asked her voice cracking with emotion. The nineteen-year-old studied the words under her master's name. They were written in Andréa's native tongue but the Padawan knew what it meant.

The Light is strongest where there is love.

It had been Avon's master's favorite saying when she had been alive. Avon Vea fought back a sob as she thought of her master's ever-cunning wisdom. It had saved them on more than one occasion during their years together.

"Many things have changed, Master, as I'm sure you must know. Master Viti is a great master don't get me wrong. But I still wish that you were here with me. That you would be the one to cut my braid." Avon spoke to the words as though they would answer her. Some reason it comforted her to come to the secluded room to just think and talk to her master.

It had been 10 months since her master's tragic death on Conmore when the great bridge had collapsed sending her and her master down to the depth of the small planet. It had taken the search and rescue 5 hours to find them down there. Avon fought back another sob as she thought of what happened.

_Andréa Cornica and her young –well not really- apprentice were sent to over see the evacuation of the small planet of Conmore. The planet was one with deadly volcanoes that could erupt at any time. It just so happened that they were going to erupt in a matter of days covering the entire planet in white-hot lava. _

"_Master, that is every body from this sector." Avon Vea said to the Jedi Master._

"_Good let's ge-" screaming from the far side of the bridge cut the master's words off. _

" _Help, us please my daughters are very ill and cannot walk. Help!" the lady called to the to Jedi. _

_A look pasted between the two before they ran a crossed the long bridge to the other side. The lady motioned franticly for the two Jedi to follow her. She led them to a small thatched house on the corner of the village._

"_Please you must help them." She begged Andréa gesturing to her daughters._

"_Of course we will do not worry." Andréa replied while gently picking up one of the small forms and cradling it in her arms. Her padawan quickly picking the other girl up holding her with the same care that a mother would hold her infant child._

_Be wary, Padawan, there is a disturbance in the Force. Andréa muttered over their bond._

_I feel it also, Master came the sort reply._

_The two Jedi carried the children to the bridge and let the mother cross first, then the padawan, swift followed by the master. With each step the bridge seemed to sway on its supports. The mother stumbled slightly and the bridge supports gave way to the weight of her fall._

_She screamed as the bridge lurched and swayed in the wind._

_Avon held the child tight to her chest and carefully made her way to the frightened mother. Positioning the child on her hip she helped the woman up and they continued the short distance very slowly for fear that the bridge would collapse._

_Once the two had reached the other side safely, Avon turned back to the bridge. Her master stood in the center of the great structure still holding the child. _

_Avon, don't come out here the bridge might collapse. The master commanded over the training bond._

_But, Master. _

_No stay there. _

_What about the child? _

_Andréa looked down at the little life she held in her arms._

_Come just enough for me to give you the child then go back, Avon, do you hear me? Go back immediately. _

_ Yes, Master_

_Avon took a hesitant step forward, the bridge swayed gently. The crowd behind her gasped but the young Jedi did not hear them. Four agonizing minutes latter the master and apprentice where in arms length of each other. Andréa handed the girl over to her Padawan._

" _Watch your step, Padawan, on you way back" Andréa told her padawan gently. Avon nodded and began the walk back to the solid land._

_Three feet away from the land the last support gave way and the bridge fell. Avon reached out and threw the small girl to her mother, while trying to get to safety herself._

_But as usual she was to late. The ground disappeared from under her feet and she fell along side her master. The two Jedi used the Force to soften their landing and the last thing Avon remembered was white-hot pain erupting along the training bond._

Tears fell from Avon's blue eyes and she wiped them away angrily. Why did she plague herself with such memories? Why couldn't she remember the good times? The corny jokes? The long hours of meditation for punishment for pulling pranks on unsuspecting Masters and Knights and senior padawans? The long hours her and her master just spent talking?

She closed her eyes and sighed slipping back into a memory.

_Seven –year-old Avon Vea and her best friend Cassie Jean walked down the corridor to their next, always Avon's favorite, Saber class. Today hopefully Knights would be watching for a padawan. Avon and Cassie talked excitedly about what would be their future._

" _I heard that Knight Cornica is looking for a Padawan to day. Be on your toes Avon do your very best cause today the most feared Knight in the Order is looking' for an apprentice!" Cassie told her friend excitedly._

_Avon's clear blue eyes misted over at the thought. Knight Cornica, wow there were rumors around Temple that one-day she would sit on the Council._

"_Wow, Knight Cornica, but she is never here from what I've heard. Most of the time she's out in the field." Avon replied to her friend as they walked in to the sparring room where the classes would take place. Little Initiates scurried around the room to their spots on the floor. _

_Avon was pared with a male Twilek who was much big than her. The call was made to ignite and the battle began. The blue Twilek's saber locked with Avon's and the two locked eyes. Avon pulled away and launched and new attack. The two fought against each other with a severe determination._

_Avon felt eyes boring into her back as she desperately tried to fend of the reign of attacks and blows made by the opponent. The training saber caught her across the windpipe. She gasped and turned to see the hazel eyes of Knight Cornica looking intensely at her. _

_Avon and Jack, the Twilek, bowed to each other Avon flashed the slightly bigger Padawan a bright smile. She rubbed her neck ruefully as she made her way over to the Care Master. After brief discussion with her Avon made her way to the Med Center._

_As she walked through the doors Healer Bant looked up._

" _You're not hurt again are you?" She asked curiously._

_Avon nodded and rubbed her neck again." Saber class." _

_Bant sighed and led the girl to one of the examination room towards the front of the Center._

_Ten minuets and a lot of complaints latter the training saber burns were healing nicely and Knight Cornica entered the Med Center. _

" _Andréa, oh it good to see you! So what brings you here to the notorious med center?" Bant asked as she saw her friend enter._

"_A little Initiate came in her with training saber burns. Do think I might could talk to her, Bant?" Andréa told the Healer. _

_Bant's silver eyes shone with happiness._

"_Of course you can, Andréa. This way." Bant responded turning and leading the way down the hallway to the second door on the right. Bant slowly opened the door._

_Avon turned at the sound of the door opening. Healer Bant's face appeared in the door way along with another. _It must be Knight Cornica._ She thought to her self._

_Bant smiled widely " I've got so paper work to do. I'm just going to leave you alone." With that she turned on her heal and left._

_Andréa Cornica watched the young girl as she hastily bowed. She returned it with a small bow of her own and called the chair in the corner to her hand through the Force. Andréa placed the chair in front of the exam table, motioned for the girl to sit, which she did happily I might add, and sat on it so she and the little Initiate were eye to eye._

" _Do you like being a Jedi, Avon?" the knight asked._

_Avon Vea beamed, " yes, Madame. I do very much!"_

_Andréa smiled to herself. She could remember being that young and excited._

" _What do you want to do when you grow up?" Andréa asked, wanting to know more about the child._

_T a non-Jedi the question seemed a little trivial; think a Jedi is a Jedi, right? Wrong. One could either choose to be a Knight or a Healer. Each had many different types of assignments. There were solitary Knights, there were field Knights, there were crèche Knight, stake –out Knights, Knights that handle only boarder disputes, under cover Knights, and much to Andréa's own chagrin Housing Knight who she personally thought need to get out a little more. Then there where Mind Healers, Soul Healers, regular Healers, and probably many more, but the Knight had never taken the time to find out._

_So yes the young girl had many choices ahead of her._

"_Oh I wish to be a Knight, Knight Cornica!" Avon Vea said excitedly._

" _Would you also wish to be my padawan?"_

' _Ok so not so formal but hay what works, works.' Andréa thought to herself as she asked the blonde haired blue eyed Initiate._

_Even more informal was the response. Avon broke out into a wide grin and sprang from her seated place on the exam table throwing her arms around the Knights neck._

"_I promise I'll be a good padawan, Master, I promise." Avon whispered to the Master the words slightly muffled, but audible considering she had head buried into the Knights robed shoulder._

" _I know, Avon, but you wouldn't have a master if you choke her!" the newly minted Master said barely hiding a gag gently embracing the small girl back._

_Reconnection flared behind clear blue eyes and the girl pulled back from the Young Master._

_For the first time in years the Master smiled or rather let lose a full fledge grin._

Avon Vea bit back a strangled sob as she sank unceremoniously to the floor.

' Why do I plague myself with these memories?' she thought bitterly, ' I wish I could just make them go away!'

She bowed her head and took a deep breath.

Quietly she recited the Healers prayer that she had learned as an Initiate in the Temple.

"By the Force which aids you, by the gifted that have come before you, by the Jedi who stand beside you, by the oath you have taken," her voice cracked with emotion as her mind drifted to another memory.

_Avon Vea woke with a pounding headache. She sat up trying to get her bearings her right hand throbbed with an intense ache. She realized it was not just broken but complete shattered._

"_Master?" she called out. Then she reached out through the bond gently. She gasped when she could find nothing. _

'_Okay calm down. There are two reasons that the bond would be blocked. One either I'm wearing a Force suppression collar which I'm not, or Master is. Two she could be in sever pain and blocked it so I would not know or she-' Avon shook her head defiantly not allowing herself to believe it._

"_Master?" she tried again. Again nothing. _

_Avon stood and began searching for any signs of her Master's presents. Chestnut hair caught her eye from the far side. She sighed in relief her Master's hair color._

_Running towards the spot as best she could with her arm cradled to her chest she sighed in relief and mirth her Master hated the Med Center, but it looked after this she would be spending some time in the dreaded place. _

_Avon audibly gasped when she got to the spot where her Master lay. _

_Andréa's body was badly broken, her breathing labored, she had no mobility in her arms or legs. She guessed her spine was broken so even if she survived, which she didn't think she would live, she would probably never walk again. She felt her Padawan's presents near and wished Avon did not have to see her like this._

_Avon ran to her Master's side and knelt next to her. Hazel eyes blinked open and met the clouded gray ones of her apprentice. _

"_Oh, Avon,…… I'm so……sorry." the Master choked out as best she could._

"_No Master please no!" The young lady begged._

"_Always …….so ……proud. Promise me……. you will keep …..Living?" again the Master choked out. _

" _Yes Master any thing I swear." Avon' words were choked with emotion as she fought the tears._

_Seeming to be satisfied with the Padawan's answer Andréa closed her eyes and let herself answer the call of the Force._

"_No, No please no." gently holding the master's head in her lap she recited the Healers Prayer. " By the Force which aids you, by the gifted that have come before you –" She skipped the next part crying as though her heat would break continued "By the Padawan who needs you please Master Please come back!"_

_Gently rocking back and forth with her head bowed she grieved. Which is how Rescue found the two, Master and Apprentice._

Being drawn out of the painful memory Her communicator buzzing Avon sighed and answered,

"Vea"

"Avon we are to report to the Council immediately. Meet me there?" Master Viti's voice came over the airways.

"Yes, Master, I'm on my way,"

"Try to hurry Padawan just this once."

Avon smirked despite herself " Yes, Master" with that the comm. Went dead.

Picking herself up off the floor Avon cast one last glance around the room her gaze finally resting on the small table in the center. Carefully taking a small clip out of her pocket she gently laid it on the small table.

"I'll miss you always" she said and then despaired out of the room. Duty called, unfortunately.

A/N okay not my usual type of fic but I came to me in the middle of the night while I was working on a school report and would not leave me alone. I hope it made you cry as much as it made me while I was writing it.13 pages on the computer I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. So tootles for now and it would be much appreciated if you reviewed.

Thanks,

Night Of The Land


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